EXCLUSIVE: A large number of much-awarded films in contention for Oscar nominations this year won’t see their writers also going to the WGA Awards. As usual the guild, which has strict rules for eligibility, has a number of widely acclaimed screenplays and prestigious film festival winners MIA on the ballot just sent to members today.
Among high profile original screenplays not on the ballot this year are Cannes Film Festival winners and multi -Golden Globe and Critics Choice nominees Sentimental Value, It Was Just An Accident, The Secret Agent, and Sirat. Each of those are official Academy Award International Film entries and high in the betting odds for screenplay nominations at our sister site, Gold Derby. Also missing is Jim Jarmusch’s Venice Film Festival Golden Lion winner, Father Mother Sister Brother, and A24’s Sundance Film Festival Waldo Salt Screenwriting winner Sorry, Baby which has received a screenplay Indie Spirit nomination and recognition from numerous critics groups awards this season for Eva Victor’s debut script.
Other Original Screenplays members won’t be able to vote for include Searchlight’ s Rental Family, Dead Man’s Wire, A Private Life, Rosemead, and Robert Kaplow’s acclaimed script for Richard Linklater’s Blue Moon. Another script though from Linklater’s other 2025 film, Nouvelle Vague did make the ballot even though it is, like many of those ineligible this year, a high profile foreign language film.
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Adapted Screenplays not on the ballot included the much acclaimed South Korean Oscar entry from Park Chan-Wook, No Other Choice, Cannes Un Certain Regard and Gotham Awards winning screenplay Pillion, The History Of Sound, Don’t Let’s Go To The Dogs Tonight, Ballad Of A Small Player, and Kristen Stewart’s The Chronology Of Water. Also ineligible is Peter Hujar’s Day recently nominated for the prestigious USC Scripter Award. But for horror fans don’t worry. Among the screenplays that made the ballot are M3gan 2.0 and Black Phone 2.
Of note also the screenplay for Rob Reiner’s final film, Spinal Tap 2, with a script by Reiner, Christopher Guest, Harry Shearer & Michael McKean is among the films up for Adapted Screenplay consideration.
Rules put out by the Writers Guild of America state the following: “Screenplays must have been written under a WGA collective bargaining agreement or under a bona fide collective bargaining agreement of the Writers Guild of Canada, Writers’ Guild of Great Britain, Writers Guild of Ireland, Writers’ Guild of South Africa, New Zealand Writers Guild, ALMA Sindicato des Guionistas, Screenwriters Association (India), Screenwriters Guild of Korea (SGK), La Guilde Francaise des Scénaristes (France), Scriptwriters Guild of Israel, the Société des Auteurs de Radio, Télévision et Cinéma (Québec) or Verband Deutscher Drehbuchautoren (VDD/Germany) (collectively, “affiliate guilds”). Please note that an affiliate guild may impose additional requirements for a writer to be considered covered by its collective bargaining agreement.” Additionally scripts, even those otherwise eligible, must be formally submitted.
Nomination ballots are due back January 20, 2026. Nominations in film and tv categories will be announced on January 27. The WGA Awards will take place on Sunday March 8.